Thanksgiving in Colorado

Well, I finally did it. I got around to posting the first of an indefinite number of installments detailing the recent Colorado trip Denny and I made together over Thanksgiving. It was an incredible 4 days, and we can't thank Mikey, Rae & the Joyces enough for their hospitality. It was such a great trip, in fact, it had (has?) me and Denny wanting to move our families out to Colorado at the first opportunity. Speaking of families, we missed ours despite having so much fun. A thousand thanks to the lovely ladies in our lives for extending to us the proverbial hall pass, and for holding down the fort back in Oregon while we were away.

Without further ado, enjoy the pics! More to come soon(ish).

Leaving Oregon - Mt. Hood in the distance

Arriving in Colorado - Rocky Mountain High

When we arrived at Mikey & Rae's beautiful home, Denny was welcomed with birthday goodness. Being my typical self, I wasn't aware it was Denny's birthday until he mentioned it in passing shortly before landing in Denver.

We met up with Mikey for lunch shortly after arriving in Denver and being picked up by Rae. We had some excellent and authentic Mexican food per Mikey's recommendation.

Beautiful City Park - right across the street from Mikey & Rae's place.

Great pizza and even better company - our first night in Denver.

A morning walk to Starbucks. We were all in our Beavers sweats, including Rae, making a statement.

Picturesque East High - just down the road from Mikey and Rae's house

On our walk home from Starbucks, one of us noticed a ball stuck up in the tree. Naturally, Denny proceeded to challenge Mikey's manhood by claiming he couldn't get it down. Armed with a football, dim wits and each other, the next 20 minutes were dedicated to the singular task of getting that ball out of the tree.

First attempt with the football...

Mikey was dead-on accurate, but the ball remained stuck and now the football was stuck as well.

Futility with a sweatshirt...

How many brothers-in-law does it take to...

Final Approach

Success! Mikey actually knocked the ball out of the tree with a piece of steel pipe found on the ground.

To the victor go the spoils!

East High Artwork

We enjoyed the Broncos/Giants game on Thanksgiving day, thanks to Mikey and the Joyces. Denny got to re-connect with his childhood friend and NFL stud, Kevin Boss of the NY Giants. In addition to great seats at a great game, Denny and I were also fortunate enough to be on the field for the unfurling of the Broncos flag during player introductions. Thanks to Mikey for the hook-up!

Walking to the Stadium

Mile High City Skyline

Invesco Field

#1 Fan

Invesco Field At Dusk

Tan doing what he does best. Johnny playing it cool.

Invesco At Night

Denny

What Denny was standing beside in the picture above

Mikey on the Job

Fanatics

Wolverine

Wolverine's Domain

Onto the field for some fruity, flag-unfurling fun!

Rae thinks she's crazy. I have to agree.

Salute

TO BE CONTINUED....................................

Secret

Well...I'm still working on the Thanksgiving in Colorado blog post. I'll likely have the first installment of images (1 of 4, maybe) up tonight. In the meantime, here's something else for you:

Tree Shopping

Still working on the Colorado pics - too many to sort through. In the meantime, enjoy some pics of the tree shopping excursion that Jess, Parker, Bumpa & I went on yesterday.

Siblings

A Haircut for Bumpa (and Parker)

Parker was due for a haircut, and Gigi and Bumpa were up for the challenge. The best way to get Parker excited about getting his haircut is to give Bumpa a haircut first. It was hilarious to watch how much he got into it to the point of climbing onto Bumpa's lap to get a better view of the top of his head! He then pretended that he was a statue while Gigi cut his hair:)

We spent the weekend down in Corvallis so the kids could dress up for Halloween together. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pics. Parker was Optimus Prime (a Transformer), and Peyton would have been a little bear (we had a little bear suit from when Parker was a baby). Bets, Bella, and Parker had a great time trick-or-treating. Bets and Parker took turns ringing door bells on the homes in Nana and Bubba's neighborhood, and Bella was adorable going up to the doors with the big kids!

Peyton is rapidly growing and developing. I meant to post the results of her 2 month check-up. She is officially following in big brother's footsteps and is off the charts in both height and weight. She was nearly 14 pounds and grew 4 1/2 inches since she was born!! She is filling out 3-6 month clothes nicely and will most likely be in 6-12 month clothing by Christmas. One of the biggest perks of having a big baby is that they tend to sleep through the night early (Parker did not). Peyton has been sleeping 8-12 hours at night for the past week and averaged 6 or 7 since she was about 8 weeks old. We are so thankful for that as having two kids has been quite an adjustment for Nate and I in terms of figuring out how to balance time with the kids at night.

Thats all for now!